Collège Charles Desvergnes, Bellegarde, Lorient (France)

Collège Charles Desvergnes is a school of 440 students aged 11-15 , offering German, English and Spanish.

In July 2017 a French colleague from Collège Charles Desvergnes contacted one of our schools in our Trust to see if their school could visit an English school for a morning during their week’s visit to Nottingham. Mrs Collins (executive assistant head for MFL of the Trust at the time) and working closely with language colleagues at Farnborough academy ,organised a morning of interactive activities with opportunities for the french students to meet , work and befriend the English students. Students ‘response from both sides was extremely positive about the experience and staff and students have continued to keep in contact. As a result of that initial contact, the school returned to Nottingham this April for a day of collaborative activities with Rushcliffe students from years 8-10. In addition, many student families chose to host a french student for the week. This allowed for friendships to grow – so much so that in addition to integrating learning about the school and the region in our curriculum, plans are underway to organise an exchange of students and teachers for 2019.

Amelia Ravenhall (year 9) hosted a French student and said "I’m very happy that I did the exchange as I feel I’ve made a new friend and we are still in contact since her return. It helped me with my choice of which language I wanted to study at GCSE and appreciate different cultures. Most of all it was really good fun! It’s a great opportunity and I think in the future more people should try it. If there was an option for me to do it again next year my answer would be a definite yes.”

Tom Russell (year 9) also hosted two students and commented: "We all spoke in French and in English. We introduced them to the English lifestyle and their showed us theirs. In my opinion this exchange trip is a great opportunity to extend your knowledge of the French language and culture.”